Naughty Monty goes to Noida, for another wonderful Creative Writing session with children

A sad, vengeful vampire called Maya, a huge fridge with an inferiority complex, a kind-hearted but irresponsible fairy, a beautiful, well-behaved, yet vain mouse, and a flowerpot that feels suffocated inside the house – it is incredible how children aged 6 – 9 can come up with such extraordinary characters with multiple layers. Every time we get used to the brilliance exhibited by young aspiring writers, they go one step ahead and surprise us further. And this is also makes Naughty Monty one of my favorite workshops.

The truth is, however, that none of this should surprise us. Children have the most unhindered imaginations. Their thoughts, mind, and memories haven’t been tainted as much by their experiences and other people’s views and are unrestricted by what we, adults, have come to accept as reality. And, therefore, with a bit of stimulus and exercises tailored to make theme focus on thinking about stories, they are able to churn out magic. They participate with enthusiasm, and openly give and receive ideas, but are still straight-forward enough to say “no” when the idea doesn’t agree with their vision of the story.

A creative writing workshop for children is as much an occasion for learning for children as for the tutor. Each child teaches something new, one just has to be perceptive and open enough to receive the new knowledge. Lectures just don’t work with children. They get bored and are ruthless with expressing their thoughts. You have to step into the circle and be one with them, while at the same time maintaining authority.

Naughty Monty has been such a great experience for Literature Studio and we have received so many requests from various places to bring Naughty Monty to their cities, colonies, towns, that we are thinking of making this a monthly workshop at least for the next few months. The next city Naughty Monty is headed to is Gurgaon and you will very soon see an announcement for the same.